This NSF IRES Track 1 proposal will send cohorts of PhD students for 10-week summer research stays with host researchers in Dresden at the TU Dresden, Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research (IPF), and Helmholtz Center Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR) for 3 consecutive summers. The research theme is soft matter.

A new generation of cardiac implants is proposed. This project integrates advances in the assembly and control of magnets (expertise of PI Tracy) with 3D printing (expertise of Co-PI Gall).

This proposal is to develop a method using nanoparticles as contrast agents for optical coherence tomography to investigate the structure and properties of extracellular matrix in pre-malignant breast cancer.

This proposal is to study the use of heteroaggregation as a simple method for assembly of multifunctional nanoparticles.

This proposal is the use chains of magnetic particles for the design and demonstration of new kinds of soft robotic devices.

Interfaces between metal coordinating proteins (MCPs) and inorganic surfaces are increasingly demonstrated to play a vital role in the mechanical properties of some of the most remarkable materials discovered in nature. This proposal is first to understand the behaviors of several kinds of MCP-nanoparticle (NP) soft composites where crosslinking between MCPs and NPs will affect the chemical, mechanical, and functional properties of MCP-NP composites and second to further engineer these materials for specific properties.

We propose to develop an emerging nanotopological imaging technology based upon dynamic light scattering (DLS) of plasmonic gold nanorods (GNRs) in combination with optical coherence tomography (OCT).��������� GNRs are advantageous because they provide a resonant cross-polarized optical signal for detection of their obstructed self-diffusion within the mucus macromolecular network. Importantly, OCT provides depth-resolved DLS measurements of GNR diffusion, which will enable spatial mapping of heterogeneities in mucus nanotopology including changes in overall density and shear-induced alignment of mucins as a function of distance from the periciliary layer.

The �����CEMRI will be a national resource for materials science and engineering research and education in the Durham-Raleigh-Chapel Hill (Triangle) area of North Carolina, a thriving technological and economic hub with a high concentration of materials innovation activity in both academia and industry. �����CEMRI will focus on the study and development of morphodynamic soft materials ?materials that are able to change their shape, organization and physico-chemical properties to enable unique, dynamic functions, and will leverage existing and complementary strengths at the three premier research universities in the area, Duke, NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill. �����CEMRI is expected to have a major national and international impact through generation of (i) new fundamental insights and theoretical understanding, (ii) new design principles, and (iii) new applications and uses for dynamic materials. In response to new CEMRI guidelines, the team deliberately designed its research and educational activities to emphasize both advances in fundamental materials science and enhanced materials innovation and translation. Intellectual Merit. Understanding, harnessing and exploitation of dynamic processes related to the aggregation of multicomponent particulate materials, and the conformational changes of macromolecular assemblies and networks represent significant current frontiers in materials research. �����CEMRI has assembled three teams of leading researchers in materials theory, synthesis, processing and applications to establish the �����CEMRI. IRG1: Multicomponent Colloidal Assembly by Comprehensive Interaction Design. The goal of IRG1 is to develop a fundamental understanding of self-assembly of bulk materials from multi-component colloidal suspensions. Bidisperse colloidal suspensions are ideal experimental models of complex materials, such as ionic crystals and binary alloys. These structures have potential for application in photonic, electronic, and biomedical devices and are more highly tunable than single component colloidal systems. The rich phase behavior expected in multi-component systems of multi-faced particles, multipolar particles, and particles with different geometric structures (rods, nonspherical shapes) will allow for advancement both of fundamental materials science and the development of novel applications. IRG2: Genetically Encoded Morphodynamic Polymers. In Nature, peptide polymers represent the largest class of dynamic macromolecules that perform innumerable functions. IRG2 will focus on understanding and harnessing the behavior of genetically-engineered, biologically-inspired peptide-based macromolecules that exhibit critical and reversible inter- and intra-molecular noncovalent interactions. Genetic encoding allows precise control of chemical functionality, sequence, stereochemistry, molecular weight, and thus, environmental sensitivity and supramolecular assembly. IRG2 will develop a broad range of new stimuli-responsive molecules, ?Genetically Encoded Morphodynamic Polymers? (GEMPs), develop understanding of how block copolymers that incorporate these molecules in random and programmed ways behave, and use block copolymers in forming new hierarchical and hybrid functional materials. IRG2 will focus explicitly on studying fundamental phenomena and systems that have been heretofore difficult to access through conventional polymer synthesis. IRG3: Advanced Silicone-based Bulk and Interfacial Constructs. Silicone elastomer networks (SENs) are used in myriad settings today (from bathroom fixtures to nanofabrication facilities) and have thus been extensively studied. The palette of network and surface chemistries commonly available in such versatile materials remains, however, very limited. This IRG will develop and implement new functional SENs (FSENs) that allow versatile and independent control of bulk network properties and surface properties. Such control is vital for application of SENs in a number of emerging applications, including those where it is necessary to utilize the solubility and transport properties

We propose to investigate the field-driven assembly of magnetic nanoparticle chains in polymers and to characterize the novel, nanostructured nanoparticle-polymer composites that result from this process. The assembly of magnetic nanoparticle chains in polymers is largely unexplored, and this proposal aims to gain understanding and control over the chain assembly process and to characterize the properties of polymer composites containing magnetic nanoparticle chains.

The ability to monitor viscoelasticity of airway mucus in situ may lead to new methods for assessing the efficacy of therapy, for drug delivery, and for the construction of better biophysical models of mucociliary clearance. We propose to develop an emerging nanorheological imaging technology based upon dynamic light scattering of plasmonic gold nanorods, in combination with an optical coherence tomography imaging platform.